Filed under: Weight loss

What is Garcinia cambogia and why is it being used in weight-loss dietary supplement products?

Garcinia cambogia is being used as a dietary supplement ingredient in some products marketed for weight loss. What is it? And is it effective? Read this Operation Supplement Safety (OPSS) FAQ about Garcinia cambogia to find out. Be sure to check back often, as we add answers to other questions about ingredients in performance and weight-loss supplements and how to choose supplements safely.

Two versions of OxyELITE Pro have been removed from the market in the past year. Read the Operation Supplement Safety (OPSS) FAQ to find out why, and to get more information from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Also, be sure to check back often, as we add answers to other questions about ingredients in performance-enhancing and weight-loss supplements and how to choose supplements safely.

If you have more questions about a particular dietary supplement ingredient or product, please use our “Ask the Expert” button located on the OPSS home page.

Does late-night eating really contribute to weight gain? Research suggests it just might.

There’s an old adage you may have heard: “Eat after eight, put on weight.” And maybe you’ve experienced it first-hand: You noticed that eating those late night pizzas and ice cream really packed on the pounds. But was your weight gain due to timing or just the high calorie counts? According to research in the field of circadian rhythms (CRs)—the 24-hour cycle of your body’s biological, hormonal, and behavioral patterns—it seems that when you eat could be just as important to weight gain as what you eat.

Deep within your brain sits a small cluster of nerve cells—a “master clock” of sorts—that’s responsible for orchestrating your CRs. Each biological system in your body works on a different CR schedule, and the master clock keeps all the schedules in sync. For example, CRs influence your body’s production of the hormones that regulate hunger, as well as how your body uses and stores fats and sugar, ultimately influencing your body weight, performance, and overall health. Other hormones, such as the ones that tell you when you’re full, are switched on or off according to a variety of inputs.

The two greatest influences on how well your master clock is able to keep things in sync are light and food. Light tells your brain how much sleep you get (think: eyes closed, less light). Food (smell, taste, and consumption) tells your body to produce a myriad of chemicals. As a result, staying up late at night, working shifts, and eating at all hours of the day and night—whether voluntarily or due to the demands of overseas deployments, training demands, shift-work schedules, and even parenthood—can play havoc with your circadian rhythms.

In an interesting twist, not only do CRs influence hunger and body weight, but excess body fat and/or a high-fat diet may disrupt CRs. This can lead to further weight gain, culminating in a collection of health problems known as “metabolic syndrome.” In the U.S., regular loss of sleep closely parallels the occurrence of metabolic syndrome. In addition, researchers have found that people who sleep less or have poor-quality sleep are more likely to become obese.

What to do? Make a conscious effort to “normalize” your daily routines as much as possible to maintain regular mealtimes. Whether you choose to eat three regular-sized meals or four to six smaller meals a day, space them out through the daylight hours to take advantage of your body’s natural rhythms. Here are some suggestions to avoid eating late at night:

Try to eat a balanced dinner at least two hours before you go to bed, and take a walk afterwards when possible.

Sometimes it can help to create new nighttime rituals that don’t involve eating, such as light stretching or yoga, taking a warm bath, listening to soothing music, or reading (or listening to) a book.

But if you find yourself up late at night—whether it’s due to a hard day at work, regular shiftwork, or temporary shifts due to jet lag or an infant’s night feedings—resist the urge to snack out of boredom or to “keep your energy up.” Shift workers should pack or purchase a healthy meal to eat during their work hours—one that includes lean protein and complex carbohydrates such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Eat early in the shift if possible, so you’ll have the energy you need to think and move efficiently. Travelers and parents should look for healthy snacks that follow a similar pattern. And try to limit coffee, tea, and other sources of caffeine to just two to four servings a day.

Of course, eating is just one half of the CR equation. Getting enough sleep is important too, so read HPRC’s overview for great tips on how Warfighters can improve their sleep.

Visit OPSS—for the first time or again—for new Frequently Asked Questions about dietary supplement safety.

Operation Supplement Safety (OPSS) has added even more questions and answers to its FAQs section on HPRC’s website. Be sure to check back often as we add more answers to questions about supplement ingredients, performance and dietary supplements, weight loss and supplements, and choosing supplements safely. Didn’t find what you were looking for? Use our Ask the Expert button located on the OPSS home page.

HPRC’s updated list of DMAA-containing products shows the impact of FDA’s announcement in April that dietary supplements containing DMAA are illegal.

Since we first posted our list of DMAA-containing dietary supplement products in December 2011, and especially since FDA’s announcement in April 2013, the number of products being manufactured with this ingredient has continued to decline. Our search does still occasionally turn up products with DMAA that were not on our previous lists: just six new products have been added since our last update in April 2013. Despite these additions, this update shows that about 80 dietary supplement products are apparently still being manufactured with DMAA, but note that many are by non-U.S. sources. Over the lifetime of this list 125 products have been discontinued or reformulated to exclude DMAA, including some of the most well-known ones. To the best of our knowledge and searching, 68 of these no longer appear for sale, even from distributor stock. You'll find our updated list of products containing DMAA here.

A 2012 study demonstrated that an increase in body mass index (BMI) increased a person’s chance of sustaining a non-contact ACL injury.

Being overweight puts you at risk for a whole host of health issues, but most people don’t think about the risk posed to their knees. The anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, is one of the major ligaments of the knee and one of the most susceptible to injury. Injury information on more than 1,600 men and women at the U.S. Naval Academy showed that those with a higher body mass index (BMI) had a greater incidence of ACL tears. A difference in BMI of only 1.2 (25.6 versus 24.4) made the difference between having and not having this kind of injury. (To learn more about BMI, read HPRC's explanation.)

Like the adage “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone,” knees are something we generally take for granted. To stay on top of your game, you need your knees. An easy way to protect them is to drop the extra weight you’re asking them to carry around.

Raspberry ketone is a food additive and aromatic compound now being sold as a dietary supplement/ingredient touted to reduce fat and weight. Find out the facts and the science behind it all.

Raspberry ketone, touted to be an effective fat-loss and weight-loss supplement, occurs naturally in various red raspberries. The raspberry ketone in supplements is probably produced in the laboratory, as it would be too expensive to extract it from real raspberries. FDA recognizes that raspberry ketone as a food additive is “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) to consume in small amounts. However, the long-term effects in humans who consume it as a supplement are unknown. For more information, read HPRC’s InfoReveal on “Raspberry ketone.”

Count on coconut oil for flavor and quick energy, not performance. And consume it in moderation.

Coconut oil has a sweet taste that lends distinct flavor to foods, and it contains several saturated fats—something the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest we eat less of. That is because eating saturated fats has been linked to atherosclerosis (“hardening of the arteries”) and increased risk of heart disease.

Although coconut oil is highly saturated, it has different types of saturated fats. One of these—lauric acid—is regularly touted as having performance benefits. Lauric acid is referred to as a “medium chain fatty acid” (MCFA), and the body processes MCFAs differently than it does “long chain” fatty acids (LCFAs). Importantly, MCFAs are digested more rapidly than long chain fatty acids, so they are quickly absorbed and available as an energy source. Some research suggests MCFAs might help to optimize and maintain glycogen stores, thus extending endurance performance. Not only that, MCFAs are less likely than other fats to be stored as fat—a plus if you’re concerned about weight control. The performance claims surrounding MCFAs and coconut oil have not held up, and claims about their weight loss benefits need more research.

The American College of Sports Medicine and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics joint guidelines for Nutrition and Athletic Performance indicate that MCFAs do not provide any performance benefit. To date, only two studies have shown improvements in performance. On the other hand, MCFAs have been shown to increase the body’s use of “fats” as fuels, reducing food intake, so such products may promote weight loss. There just isn’t enough information available to make any scientific conclusions.

If you choose to eat coconut oil, do so in moderation for its unique flavor and texture, because its health and performance benefits are still open for consideration.

Resolutions don't have to daunting—making small, not big, changes that fit easily into your lifestyle are good options for family health and weight loss over time.

It’s the New Year! If you’re already despairing about resolutions, keep in mind that making small changes in behavior that fit easily into your lifestyle are good options for family health and weight loss over time. For one month, try choosing three small habits to focus on changing that you can apply to any situation, whether you’re at home, overseas, or travelling. Try setting up email or calendar reminders if that helps you, or put up tangible reminders such as sticky notes around your house. To get you started, here are some ideas:

Keep unhealthy foods such as potato chips, cookies, etc. out of sight so they are less tempting.

Put down your fork and knife between bites.

Portion out “snackable” foods that come in large bags/containers into smaller one-serving containers, so you don’t keep dipping in.

Two reports released by the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services show that some dietary supplement products have illegal claims on labels and don’t provide accurate company information to the FDA.

Two just-released government reports show that many supplements are illegally labeled and some companies are not including their phone number or address on the labels of products as the FDA requires. The first report explains that some of the structure/function claims on labels (such as “promotes weight loss” or “supports healthy immune function”) could not be backed up. The second report explained that 28% of companies tested did not register with FDA as required, and 72% of the companies whose products were examined did not provide the appropriate company information to the FDA. At both of the links above you also can listen to a podcast discussing the reports.

2010

Some documents are in a PDF format. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

Linking Policy:

The appearance of a hyperlink does not constitute endorsement of the linked website or the information, products or services contained therein by the United States Government, Department of Defense, uniformed services or Uniformed Services University. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and morale, welfare, and recreation sites, the Department of Defense, uniformed services and the Uniformed Services University does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at this location. This link is provided consistent with the stated purpose of this military web.

Anonymous Information Gathering:

HPRC allows AddThis to collect certain anonymous information when you visit our website. They use non-personally identifiable information during your visits to this and other websites provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or a third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice, you can visit www.networkadvertising.org.